A network typically connects multiple system hosts or nodes (for example, a set of computers) to each other to allow the system hosts to share data with each other in the form of data packets sent and received over a network medium. Each system host has an internal system bus which is connected to the network medium using an interface device. The interface device is configured to be compliant with the connectivity standards and protocols of the network medium. In addition, the interface device is configured to be compliant with the connectivity standards and protocols of the system host.
Unfortunately, however, different system hosts have different connectivity standards and protocols used to communicate with networking interface devices. For example, one system host may have a media access controller (MAC) which communicates via a medium independent interface (MII) using IEEE standard 802.3 and another system host may support peripheral component interconnect (PCI) devices using a PCI standard. Therefore, for each network medium standard, manufacturers of interface devices generally provide multiple versions of the interface device to be compatible with each system host connectivity standard. In addition, purchasers of interface devices must be careful to select the correct interface device for their system host.